Mabu Station

Had the dark chocolate almond cake with coffee cream. Didn’t look anything like the menu at all. Cake was stale, ice cream was melted — would not recommend. Awaiting the Mabu special honey toast with ice cream. Will update when it comes.
STAY TUNED.

Friends and I contemplated for some time on whether or not to come here due to the many negative reviews and low rating. We decided not to at first but finally we gave it a shot… and… I’M SO GLAD WE DID!
There are 2 Mabu Stations situated right next to each other and it appears that both serve the same stuff. The first one had its seats all filled up so we stepped into the second one. Fortunately, there were still 2 seats left. Oh boy, the traffic here is non-​stop! Once a seat is empty, someone’s there to fill it up! Very busy restaurant however, service is great.
We ordered the Mixed Fruit with Mango Sago and Ice Cream. Not too sweet and very creamy. Loveeee the sago «pops»! I do wish that they use fresh fruits though especially the pineapples… just one small bite and you’d know it’s canned pineapples. However, they do use fresh strawberries and kiwis. We also ordered one of their popular taiwanese sweet bowls: the Grass Jelly with Coconut milk, Peanuts, Sweet potato and Red Bean. Kid you not, we were all confused as to how we were suppose to eat this thing. We got a big bowl of steaming hot «soup» but it turns out to be the grass jelly and a platter of the toppings with coconut milk on the side. So, we had to chop up the grass jelly (with our spoons) in the big bowl then add in the toppings and then splash in the coconut milk. Does not look as good as the picture but it definitely tasted BOMB! I enjoyed it very much since the toppings were not too sweet; the unsweeten grass jelly helped balance everything out. Mind you, this bowl of goody is pretty big. The 3 of us couldn’t even finish it!
Saw the other foods that people were eating around me and it makes me wanna come back to try them all. So… I will be back!
Now, I’ve read many reviews about service being terrible here and that is why this place is marked with the 2.5 stars. Honestly, service is pretty good here. Pretty quick and accurate in terms of requests (e.g. more water, napkins, spoons, etc) and food. Of course, they do not speak fluent English and when they do speak it, it may seem like they’re coming off rude but, I truly believe they’re not trying to be rude. It’s a misinterpretion due to a language barrier. Anywho, they even provide feedback slips for you to fill out at the end so you have a chance to help them improve in certain areas. You don’t have to leave a feedback but, they do add a 10% discount if you do!

I ordered hot milk tea and tiramisu mille-​feuille crêpe. The milk tea tasted alright, but it came out lukewarm. It cooled down pretty quickly and I’d like to have it warmer. The mille-​feuille didn’t have a picture so I could only imagine what it would be, and what came out was pretty good, except that it was only a ¹⁄₆ slice of the whole thing and I guess I expected it to be bigger considering it’s $ 11 before HST.
Overall the food tasted alright. Cleanliness and prompt service bumped up half a star for a 4-​star rating. I do not mind coming back when I’m in the area.

OK food but poor service. My friends I came here after dinner for dessert. It took the waitress about 10 minutes to give us menus and water. We waited another 10 minutes for her to come take our order. It also took the kitchen a long time to prepare the dishes. By the time I received my sweet potato toast, my friends had already finished their food.

Service
Most Chinese restaurants are not known for having good service, but this place takes the award for shittiest service in the GTA lols. First off, there aren’t many tables so with 2 – 3 staff you really should not be taking so long to take down the orders (especially since the customers are filling out the order). I asked for water refills at least three times before I got what I wanted. If I was a fish, I would have already died lols. Fast forward to the end of the night, it took us at least 30 minutes to pay the bill. No, it wasn’t because we couldn’t count (we are asians btw), but because they weren’t able to give us the receipt or provide change in a timely manner.

Food
The prices are not great for what they serve. The fries are so dry I almost had to cover them in ketchup from one end to the other. I don’t even know where to start but the food sucks lols. In my order, there was cheese inside the cutlet and it tasted like Kraft Cheese slices… probably was lols. I don’t know how they attract so many customers with their food but I would rather eat at a food court than to pay restaurant prices for what we ordered.

Beautiful décor that literally takes you into a Taiwanese setting. Service was great imo and they added the youcan machines too. You have to be a bit persistent to get water refills but overall we enjoyed our time there. Love the mango pancake although they had to use green crêpe haha.

Second time coming here to eat, it’s always really busy but we didn’t have trouble getting a seat because we had a party of two.
The brick toast was very good, we ordered the large one with ice cream as well as toast with condensed milk. The servers tell you it’ll take about 45 min for the brick toast to come out but it’s well worth it!
The oreo milk tea was good but I found the prices for bubble teas to be slightly higher compared to other Taiwanese/​Chinese cafes. The menu is extensive and the servers don’t speak fluent English but the large number of pictures on the menus are helpful when ordering.

They have A LOT on their menu which might be a good idea if you go with friends so you can try different things.
One of their most popular items is the grass jelly with beans and mochis. It’s a common dessert in Taiwan and if you’re a grass jelly fan this is the thing to try. It comes in separate bowls on a tray so you can adjust your own amount/​servings. It is a bit filling though so either come on an empty stomach or share with a friend. Their bubble tea is pretty good, although on the sweet side; kind of like the ones at Cha Me Cha. Service, however, was a bit slow so you’re pretty much sitting there watching people eat before you get your order.
The atmosphere is pretty casual but can be loud at times, especially weekends.
They really do have a huge range of desserts so chances are you’ll find something here. Not ‘the’ greatest, but a good casual hang out in you’re in the area. Just be careful of the times you go; it can get packed.

I’m surprised that as someone who eats in this area quite often, I’ve never heard of this dessert place. So when my friends and I were debating where to go for dessert after dinner on Wednesday, I was really glad that someone suggested Mabu Station! The décor at this café was very cute, and I really enjoyed everything we ordered! I can’t wait to come back again!
Mabu Station actually has two stores right beside each other. One of them looked like all the tables were taken, so my friends and I went into the other one. When we went in and asked, the waitress told us that the two stores were exactly the same. There’s street parking right outside the restaurant. It’s metered parking on Yonge past 6pm on weekdays, and free parking after 10pm.
The menu was huge. There were sooo many items to choose from, and lots of unique items that we wanted to try! After a long decision process, we ordered 2 drink and 3 desserts. The drinks were good, the desserts were awesome! We ordered the following:
— Mabu Special Honey Toast w Ice Cream. When we ordered this, the waitress told us that this would take around 40 mins, and it actually did take that long. We had time to kill anyways, so we didn’t really mind the wait. The portion is pretty big. The toast comes out in a big tower, with an huge scoop ice cream on top, and sauce drizzled all down the side. The sauce was nice and warm. The toast was crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside. The toast with the sauce and ice cream was just the prefect amount of sweetness.
— Red Bean, Barley, Mix Q Ball, Mung Bean & Condensed Milk Ice Crush. This came out in a huge bowl. All the toppings were good. My favourite would definitely be the red bean and barley, it complimented the sweetness of the condensed milk ice crush very nicely. I also really liked the chewiness of the Mix Q Balls.
— Egg Milk Pudding in the Eggshell. This was decent, but the ones I’ve had in Taiwan are definitely much better. Since it was $ 6.99 for only 4 puddings, I don’t think I would get this again.
I can’t wait to come back and try the other items on their menu!

I swear the Mabu Station restaurant is perpetually packed. Every time I walk pass this restaurant there’s always people lining up at the door. This time I came in at around 12:30, only 30 minutes after opening, and my group got the last seat. My friend told me the other Mabu shop next door only opens for dinners, but I guess with the busy traffic even on weekdays, they should consider opening both stores and even opening before 12pm.
I initially wanted to try the marshmallow bread but the server told me it will take 40 minutes of waiting time because the bread is freshly baked. I do like the fact that the bread is fresh but my friend had to go back to work after lunch so I ordered the dessert bowl instead.
The dessert bowl was HUGE. It was like 6 bucks and it contained black grass jelly, red beans, taro, taro tapioca, regular tapioca, peanuts, sweet potato, and much more. They gave me some syrup on the side in case it’s not sweet enough, but honestly I feel the dessert was already very sweet. The portion was so huge that I ended up packing a lot home.
My friend got a plant pot. They claimed that the «top soil» is made out of crushed oreos, but its overly sweetness and sugary texture made me think otherwise. This dish (well…pot) has many layers: crushed oreos, ice cream, cake, yogurt, and cake at the very bottom. It’s definitely a surprise and what an interesting piece.
The one thing that kinda annoyed me was the service. They were clearly understaffed with only 1 waitress doing most of the work. My friend had to rush back to her workplace after lunch and it took them forever to get the bill for us and pack my super giant dessert bowl. I appreciate the effort of the sole waitress there, but I wish the owner could hire some additional help.

This is my first time im at mapu station and it is a sat night. They are pretty busy which is usually a good sign. Came here and ordered an appetizer and a mapu special noodle along with a drink the toffee milk tea with marshmellow. Lets get staright to the food. The tofee milk tea which came first was not good. The marshmellow was thrown in their unlike thebpicture which show it was toasted. The milke tea with toffee is overall a bit too sweet to taste. And if the marshemllow not taken out and eaten would be even sweeter. The noodle was actually not bad. As its sauce was more tomato flavour for natural tastem then just pure spices and it has some basils which isa good balancer. The takoyaki was cooked well overall however. It is missing the takoyaki sauce the sweet sauce. But it is pretty good. This place is a decent mix. However the servers are overworked as there is not enough servers to handle the 2 store crowd. But overall it is a good place to chill for light food and chating with friends.

What a cute café! They have a variety of food & drinks.
Bubble tea — really good. Not powdery. Just the way I like it. One night after dinner we saw a sign for buy 1 get 1 free any bubble tea drink takeout so we decided to try it.
Dessert — our friends ordered a mango cake and they forgot the fruits which was supposed to come with the cake.
We ordered the Honey Toast — so huge! So crunchy! Soo good! If it came with an extra scoop of ice cream it would be literally perfect. The outside had the perfect crunch like a croûton and the inside was soft like a toast. Mmmm. Perfect amount of sweetness, not too sweet but sweet enough.
Price — average.
I must come back to try their food & other bbts :)

This is one of the go to places for me and my girlfriend because the food here is pretty good and seating is very comfortable.
We weren’t allowed to play cards for some reason and had to socialize. Why, mabu, why?
Prices are reasonable but for some reason, they do not have a lot of stuff available even if it is on their menu. Every time we go, they always tell us that something is sold out. This time, the pork cutlets were unavailable. No pork cutlets? No five star.
There is wifi, you just have to ask. Side parking is also free after 10pm.

Another great experience eating here! Ordered a different toast and it was really good. The downside is that you have to wait half an hour for the desert to be ready. Anther thing is that the outer bread didn’t taste good, it’s more for the presentation than taste. Inside of the cubs were tiny cubes of honey toast which were the more edible part of the desert. I also ordered the Japanese brown sugar milk tea with pudding which was NOT worth it (almost $ 6). It just wasn’t worth it. But I still enjoyed the toast dessert!

Being from Taiwan, I am always up for a good taste of Taiwan. I can tell you that this place didn’t disappoint.
Got the fruit tea and the pork intestine hot plate. It was very good. Not too sweet and not too spicy. overall a good place for some Taiwanese food.
Saying that, there is one thing that I wanted to try. The last time I was in Taiwan, I tried the toast tower with honey sauce. I saw the same thing here and decided to order it. Unfortunately, they said it was a 40 minute wait. I didn’t know this and thus didn’t order it. I couldn’t wait that long.
Service was pretty good. nothing fantastic to write home about. Overall a good experience.
Pros
Good food
Not expensive
Cons
ORDER THE TOAST TOWER 40 minutes in advance… Was very disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to try it.

I wanted to go to this place for a long time. I love really close and whenever I pass by it, it’s always had lots of people. I finally went with my husband after dinner. I ordered the grass jelly with red beans, green beans, taro, etc. It was a very very large bowl for myself, I could not finish. They provide you with lots of grass jelly with the toppings and sugar on the side. It was a nice refreshing treat. I would order this again.
My husband had a pork belly rice. It’s nice that they still serve dinner food during the later hours (after 10pm).
There were many other dessert options on the menu that I have yet to try.

I came here with my friends last Saturday around 9 and it was already filled with people like all the tables were taken. I’m taking one star off because 1). when we were seated, the table smelled nasty so we asked someone to clean it for us and one of the servers rudely yelled at his co-​worker to wipe the table and said «Do you not even know how to clean the table properly?» in Cantonese. 2). The same server also showed his impatience when we requested for the WiFi password. 3). The background music was way too loud. I couldn’t even hear my friend talking even though she was just sitting right across from me. Note: the other servers were very friendly especially the girl who got yelled at, she patiently answered to all our questions even though we asked the same question like three times because we couldn’t hear her clearly due to the loud music pounding against our ears.
Our food were delicious and didn’t take too long to come. Unfortunatrly I can’t remember the food names. btws the Matcha ones are so popular that they were all sold out, if you want any Matcha sweets, you better go early! I will definitely come back.()

Cute décor but the food wasn’t very good. Service was okay.
I ordered the shredded chicken rice and my boyfriend ordered the pork belly on rice. Smells great, but the taste was bland.
The only thing that’s good on the menu is the green tea latte.
They need to change things up before I revisit again!

SIGH. I wanted to like this place so badly cause the décor is just SO CUTE. I first walked in having high expectations — adorable environment, adorable menu and the stuff on the menu looked appetizing.
My party of 5 got overly excited at the menu, and ordered a bunch of things… and then were terrible disappointed.
1) Green tea soy bean drink — This was $ 5 and NOT worth it. No green tea flavour AT ALL. Just a regular soy bean drink. that was green. LIke come on. for $ 5? And it came it just a regular take-​out cup (even though we were sitting down), not pretty at all. So unimpressed.
We wanted to order the honey toast (the one that looks great in pictures, with the toast all stacked up). But be warned, they need 50 minutes to prepare it. So we gave up on that and ordered the following desserts instead, which ended up taking 50 minutes to come. After half an hour of waiting while watching every other table get their non-​dessert food, we asked the waiter when our food would be arriving. 15 minutes, they claimed, and after 15 nothing. Inquired again about the wait and after seeing the HONEY BRICK TOAST ARRIVING AT ANOTHER TABLE, 5 minutes they said. Since this time we actually sounded quite pissed, it FINALLY came in 5 minutes.
2) Mango crepes — Not worth it. More cream than mango. I can’t believe this would take almost 50 minutes to come.
3) Taiwanese herbal grass jelly dessert — For $ 13… NUH-​UH. My Taiwanese friend says this was not authentic and did not taste good. I wouldn’t order this again. this honestly just reminded me of the free desserts that come with your Chinese family dinners…
4) Some marshmellow Belgian waffle — It comes with ice cream, marshmellows, bananas etc. Standard waffle… but is it supposed to taste partially uncooked? The waffle part kind of tasted like batter… unless this is some ‘unique’ way of cooking it. Again, meh.
Although it was nice of them to apologize for having the items late be on the house, and give us an additional dessert free as well (the pudding in the egg shells). That actually tasted pretty legit, but nothing outstanding that I would purposely come here for.
Pretty much, things look good in pictures, but comes out disappointing. Just go somewhere else.

This place is okay (and I’m usually not a big fan of Taiwanese places). The food was decent… nothing fantastic, but not bad either.
Servings are a little small I thought, for the price.
We didn’t have any issues when we went for a late lunch on a weekday… food came out reasonably quickly.
FYI menu consists mainly of deserts and drinks.
I wouldn’t oppose to come here again, although I most likely won’t volunteer to go here
Takes credit card